Tech

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Apple, Now an Official Touchscreen Patentee

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office now have Apple etched on their official touchscreen patentee records. And, by the mere looks of it, it seems to be a big thing. The patent, in the most precise sense of its definition deals with not only the concept of touchscreen alone, but also with the way the touchscreen inputs respond on Apple’s iPhone, and iPad – a concept that the users would know makes Apple a clear winner in its space.

Now, Apple's

A part of the patent document reads -

“A computer-implemented method, for use in conjunction with a portable multifunction device with a touch screen display, comprises displaying a portion of page content, including a frame displaying a portion of frame content and also including other content of the page, on the touch screen display. An N-finger translation gesture is detected on or near the touch screen display. In response, the page content, including the displayed portion of the frame content and the other content of the page, is translated to display a new portion of page content on the touch screen display. An M-finger translation gesture is detected on or near the touch screen display, where M is a different number than N. In response, the frame content is translated to display a new portion of frame content on the touch screen display, without translating the other content of the page.”

If you’ve been minutely following the bytes that are doing rounds about the iPad maker, then you’d know that it is an adventurous player. According to reports, Apple had applied for this particular touchscreen patent, back in 2007. Two years later, popular handset manufacturer, Nokia took legal action against Apple on grounds that the latter had infringed as many as 10 different patents belonging to Nokia. Apple shot back with launching a lawsuit against Nokia, stating that Nokia had infringed 13 of Apple’s patents. Just about when it was sorting issues with Nokia, Apple saw a roadblock in Samsung who alleged that Apple had copied its designs on its upcoming products, a battle which it just won.

Analysts believe that a major breakthrough as this would surely have a string of lawsuits to follow. But, for now, that’s speculation.